Here’s the Last Day You Can Sign Up for Equifax’s Free Credit Monitoring

When credit reporting bureau Equifax announced in early September 2017 that a security breach may have compromised as many as 143 million Americans’ personal information, chaos ensued.

The process to determine whether you’d been affected was time-consuming and frustrating for many. But if you endlessly delayed checking in with Equifax — or maybe even forgot about the breach — there’s still time to take action.

Equifax’s free enrollment period for its TrustedID service expires Jan. 31. You don’t need to be a victim of the Equifax breach of 2017 to be eligible — all you need is a Social Security number to sign up here for one free year of the service.

The TrustedID monitoring service watches all three credit reporting agencies for suspicious activity and allows you to lock and unlock your Equifax file for free for one year. A credit lock typically costs $20 or more per month, and you must order one from each credit bureau individually.

The service also offers Social Security number monitoring and identity theft insurance.

Lisa Rowan is a senior writer and producer at The Penny Hoarder.

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